It can be incredibly difficult to come up with gift ideas for a co-worker. There are a ton of items that could be deemed inappropriate, there are usually price constraints to deal with, and often you don’t REALLY know what kind of gift your co-worker might like. Hopefully this short co-worker gift idea guide will be of some help for those office gift giving situations. Also, for those of you signed up for the monthly giveaway and newsletter, make sure you look for it in your inbox this weekend, as there will be a big announcement you wont want to miss.
1. If you have a co-worker in the office that likes to tinker and fidget, or just likes to have random cool toys on their desk, this set of 216 magnetic balls is a perfect gift. The set pictured here is black, but they come in several other colors as well. I’ve got a set like this with fewer and different pieces but it really is adicting to see what kinds of geometric shapes and designs you can make with them.
2. Everyone likes to know they are doing their part to be environmentally friendly, and I’m sure you work with someone that takes it to an extreme, but I bet they still dont have these environmentally friendly produce bags. Not only can your recipient stop using plastic bags to put their produce in, but at stores like Whole Foods, they might even get the $.05 per bag discount when they use these…its the gift that keeps on giving.
3. For the DIY’er or handyman (or woman) in your office, this cool little drill attachment can prove to be invaluable. I’ve got two of them myself and they make some pretty tough jobs fun AND easy, because who doesn’t feel more manly cleaning their bathroom when they can use power tools to do it? The drill brush attachment has definitely saved me lots of time and effort at home, I’m sure that any co-worker would appreciate this handy little tool for their bath, kitchen, or garage.
4. You probably don’t want to tell a co-worker that they stink, so giving an air freshener can be a tricky proposal, but these reed diffusers are pretty unique and they are supposed to be much safer and healthier (think house fires and breathing in bad stuff) than standard air fresheners and candles. They also seem to last quite a bit longer than those other methods in my experience with them. It also doesn’t hurt that the look pretty cool, and match with almost any home decor. They work by sticking some porous sticks of wood into a glass jar filled with scented liquid. The scented liquid is absorbed by the sticks of wood (reeds) and it evaporates into the air leaving behind whatever scent you pick, and there are plenty of scents of reed diffuser refill oils to pick from.
5. I’m a big fan of having beverages handy in the office, and I was thrilled to find out that you can actually get Cold Brewed Green Tea (120 bags). Maybe I was out in the cold (bad pun intended) but I honestly never knew such a thing existed. These are basically your standard tea bags, but they actually work in cold water. Sure this isn’t the time of year that people crave a nice cold drink, however the uniqueness and practicality of it would make me think that the person put some thought into it…assuming they knew that I liked to drink green tea.
6. I don’t know who’s horrible idea it was to make the collar stays for mens shirts out of cheap plastic or sometimes metal, but these Magnetic Collary Stays are a HUGE improvement over those flimsy things. They keep your collar perfectly straight and in place 100% of the time. These are a great gift for any guy in the office that has to wear a button up shirt on a regular basis, and based on what I’ve seen there are plenty of men that have no idea these exist, so you probably don’t need to worry that your co-worker already have a set.
Hope those are some helpful gift ideas for your co-workers that are inexpensive enough, yet unique enough to minimize some of the stress and agony of trying to find that perfect gift for a co-worker. We will be back to our regular review schedule starting again this Friday.
©2015, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.